a. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to folding packages for the display, carrying and storing of articles. More particularly, this invention pertains to folding packages for the displaying, carrying and storing of a number of similar, relatively thin and relatively flat items, such as video game cartridges, "jewel boxes" or "jewel cases" that are used for the display, sale and storage of video compact disks or CD-ROMs, audio or video tape cassettes or other product containers. Graphic and printed material describing the contents typically are placed on the exterior of product container. For the display and sale of a set of related products that may be sold as one set or a single unit, the package should allow the customer to view the descriptive material on the cover of each product container, while retaining the products together as one set.
b. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,990 ("990") describes a packaging and display system in which a number of rectangular boxes are fastened together by hinges placed in alternating fashion along the back edges and the front edges of the boxes so that the boxes may be folded together in accordion fashion to form a compact stack of the boxes. When folded together, Velcro or adhesive dots hold the boxes together in the folded configuration. The "990" patent, however, directly fastens the boxes together and does not allow for the removal and re-attachment of one box from and to the set of boxes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,596 ("596") describes a plastic strip containing a series of side-by-side pockets into which pockets game cartridges may be inserted. The cartridges in the strip may be folded together, accordion-fashion, into a compact stack. The folded cartridges may then be retained in one stack by slipping an elastic retaining loop around the entire stack. The "596" patent, however, discloses a package that may be "hung up" on a hook for storage or display only when the cartridges are folded and held together in one stack. When hung in the folded or stacked configuration, only the top most game cartridge is displayed for viewing by a potential customer. If one wished to display all of the game cartridges in the strip by unfolding the stack and hanging the package from the pair of handles located near the opposite ends of the package, the central area of the package would droop in an unsatisfactory manner. If, instead, one hung the package by one end, i.e. by the tab 37, then the cartridges would tend to spill out of the pockets because the pockets would then open toward the side of the package in a horizontal direction.
When cartridges in the "596" invention are stacked together in accordion fashion and the stack is then held together by the encompassing elastic strap, one is unable to examine the descriptive material on the face of each of the cartridges without first removing the elastic strap, which removal, in turn, would allow the entire stack to fall completely open.